Using a Positive-Ion Calibration for an Exact Mass Measurement in Negative-Ion Mode
The AccuTOF makes it very easy to obtain exact mass measurements and determine elemental compositions. The mass spectra shown below were acquired with the electrospray ion source operated in negative-ion mode. The mass calibration was acquired the previous day in positive-ion mode. After changing the mass spectrometer polarity and retuning, a stearic acid impurity (present in the methanol) was used as a single-point drift correction “lock mass” to determine the elemental composition of the analyte peak at m/z 256.06242 and the palmitic acid impurity at m/z 256.23104. The error was less than 0.002 u.